Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Wanted to see about starting a new feature here on Blood Radio. Similar to our "Watch or Die" segment on the BR podcast, The Good Doctor will be recommending lesser known/unsung fright flicks for those of you out there combing the video shelves or Netflix queue for something tasty to watch.

We'll kick things off with a couple of "A" flicks, because hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Alien Raiders (2008) (1st viewing) d. Rock, BenDespite being saddled with a supremely silly and lackluster title (or perhaps because of it), this scrappy little sci-fi/horror flick is a hell of a lot better than one would expect. Borrowing and twisting a wealth of classic genre tropes (in particular John Carpenter’s The Thing), Rock’s film centers on a team of scientists-turned- assassination squad lay siege to a supermarket, hoping to quell a mutating parasitic uprising. Well shot, well acted, well played, well done – with the minor caveat that the “twist” ending isn’t much of one.

Angst (1983) (1st viewing) d. Kargl, GeraldAmazingly ambitious cinematography and a mesmerizing central performance from Erwin Leder elevates this low-budget Austrian serial killer flick well beyond its slasher brethren. Preceding John MacNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer by three years, Kargl’s close-up identification with a recently released from prison psychopath is chilling, especially when the murder scenes do not go as planned. No teleporting masked psychos – here, things get authentically messy, clumsy and terrifying. Difficult to find on VHS or DVD, but relatively accessible via streaming links such as this one: http://stagevu.com/video/vbtyppyhkxvx Highly recommended.